


to protect no matter the cost

by rivtco



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mild Blood, Violence, focuses on lea and xion!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-07
Updated: 2019-04-07
Packaged: 2020-01-06 11:24:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18387470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rivtco/pseuds/rivtco
Summary: In their times of distress, Lea and Xion had both picked up some bad habits that they now need to unlearn.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hope u enjoy this! it's not that long but it's longer than what i usually write gkhjdfg  
> this first chapter has mentions of serious injury, but i avoided going into too much detail 
> 
> and, kindly: if you ship lea(/axel) with xion or roxas get the fuck away from my work!

It all happened too fast. He and Xion were in the middle of some playful banter, Xion smiling while making another comment about him being out of shape. Gentle, and yet mischievous — that was Xion, one of his best friends, the people he’d spent so long going after. Then, the duo found themselves surrounded by enemies. Not an unusual situation for Keyblade wielders such as them, but something felt different. Those Heartless they faced were more vicious than usual, and the element of surprise they had gotten gave them the opportunity to jump between the duo.

Lea knew Xion was strong, stronger than him, but after spending so long without the kids he loved so much next to him, any danger they were put under rang loud alarm bells in his mind. They had fought for him before, in their reunion, in fact, but if he had any choice in the matter, they were not getting hurt. Not again, not ever again.

Thus, when Lea saw a Heartless lunge at Xion from behind her with strength he had not seen in a long time, he wasted no time in summoning one of his old weapons and throwing it at it. But, it was at the cost of his own attention: while Xion was, given the circumstances, doing an excellent job at fighting the enemies around her and keeping her ground, Lea failed to notice an enemy jumping down on him himself.

“Ah—! Thanks Ax—” Xion began, finishing off another Heartless as she turned around to glance where the foe had been. However, before she could finish, her eyes went to her friend, milliseconds from getting sharp Heartless claws on his face, “Watch out!”

It was Xion’s turn to act fast: she cast a precise beam of ice that hit the enemy dead on, violently diverting its path to the side, and thus, away from Lea. He took a second to process what had happened, glancing up at the tiny ice particles still in the air and then at the Heartless milliseconds after that, until Xion caught his attention again.

Xion, who had taken her attention away from the ones surrounding her to deal with the foe attacking her friend, had dropped her defensive stance and one of the Heartless made sure to take the opening it was given. Humanoid in shape, wielding a sharp blade, it swung its weapon down at the girl. Lea shoved a smaller Heartless away from him as he watched this in horror, not only seeing the blow connect but also hearing it, as Xion let out an uncharacteristically loud cry when it did.

His friend. Xion. Xion was in danger.

Not on his watch.

His vision went into a blur as he dropped the fight he was engaging in, feeling a punishing hit from one of the monsters on his back as he ran towards the Heartless that had struck his friend and was raising its sword again. Lea’s eyes contorted in rage as he swung his Keyblade to block the incoming impact meant for Xion, who had been knocked to the ground and was occupied fending off another enemy that had jumped on her. His gaze locked with the creature’s, and in the split second he spent staring at those sickly yellow eyes, he felt a blow on his side as one of his former opponents lunged at him. Not enough to bring him to the floor, but it enough to make him stagger, which in turn gave his opponent the moment it needed to recover its own balance and bring its blade down once again, but this time the hit was meant for Lea. Once again, its successful landing came with a painful cry, this time from him.

“ _Axel!_ ” Xion cried as she watched it happen, finally pushing the enemy off of her. She jumped to her feet and, despite the sharp pain she felt in her arm, made quick use of her magic to finish off the blade wielding Heartless and some of its allies around it. As she turned her attention to the ones Lea had fled from to protect her — she cursed herself in her mind as she remembered that — Lea, while holding his injury with an iron grip and breathing so heavily Xion could hear him waver despite the noise around them, used his free hand to throw one of his own weapons at the group he had been fighting before, knocking out a couple of them out. Without wasting a second, Xion followed suit and, with a fire spell, disposed of the enemies that were left.

The silence that followed wasn’t felt by either of them. After making sure all of the enemies were indeed gone, Xion turned to Lea and hurried to shorten the already small distance between them — she could see him shake, his desperate grasp at the fresh injury, his eyes out of focus.

“Axel? Axel, are—” She spoke as he shut his eyes and moved his head like it took an unbelievable amount of strength.

“Are you okay?” He asked before he even opened his eyes again, turning to Xion and trying his best to not let the pain he was feeling show in his voice, which had come out as barely a whisper.

Unfortunately, even through whispers, Lea was a bad liar.

“I’m _fine_ ,” said Xion, and if Lea hadn’t known better, he would have assumed she felt patronized. But he could tell it wasn’t that she was upset about.

His eyes met hers, and he let out an exhausted, though grateful sigh when he saw them so full of life. Tired and upset, but the brightness the kids’ eyes always had was there. She was... safe. Xion was safe, for now, he just had to take care of...

“You arm, it’s injured...” His voice trailed off as he spotted the serious gash at her left arm, presumably from trying to block the blow. He was grateful it had absorbed most of the damage, but it still looked horrible, and needed treatment fast—

His torso pounded with pain and interrupted his train of thought, with such intensity he let out a small grunt against every fiber of his being. Xion opened her mouth to say something, but he pushed through the pain and, before she could speak, he raised his free arm and reached out to her, intending on examining her wound better.

He wanted to do that, but as he tried to take a small step forward to get a better look, his knee gave out under him, and he crumbled to the floor without any energy to soften his fall. He hit the ground on his side with a hard thud, and let out another unwilling grunt.

It took Xion a moment to realize what had happened. When she did, she knelt down to his side immediately, releasing her injured arm to reach out to him herself.

“Axel? Axel, are— are you okay?” Her words were scrambled, with her voice unstable and cracking in the middle of the sentence. Lea moved in response, which, at the very least, confirmed to her he was alive, slowly opening his eyes and looking straight at hers.

When his vision focused on her, he opened his mouth to say something, but his body was still without enough energy to form any words. What came out instead was a sigh of relief, as he confirmed that he was the only one in this sorry state. His breathing slowed down as the adrenaline wore off little by little. Xion, however, was frightened by his lack of response.

“Please say something,” her words were a plea. Though she was no longer holding her injured arm, her hand only hovered near him. She wanted to touch him and make sure he was okay, but at the same time, he looked like he could break if she did.

“I’m fine,” he struggled to whisper.

It was weird, Xion thought, how it was clearly not true, when his voice was so honest.

She felt dread wash over her, though she couldn’t explain why. She broke eye contact with him when her eyes darted to his wound. It was bad, it was extremely bad. With a newfound clarity born out of desperation, she moved her hand next to it and cast a healing spell. Though she didn’t see it, Lea closed his eyes as she did so, with the sharp pain getting dulled by a certain amount. It was by no means gone, but it had gotten the slightest bit more manageable. He kept his eyes closed and took a few deep breaths, collecting the energy he needed to speak again, missing Xion sending a distress signal to their friends on her gummiphone as he did so.

“...Axel?” She said after a few seconds, her voice so small he barely heard it.

He opened his eyes again and looked at her.

“Thanks,” he said, a small but sincere smile on his face.

Xion, on the other hand, just frowned, her eyes growing more reflective of light as the moments passed. Lea let out a small sigh and used all of the strength he had to lift his hand and bring it to the side of her face, and she gripped it with her own, fear and anxiety clear in the strength with which she held it. Lea felt his mind fog, little by little, but pushed through it as much as he could, focusing his vision on her.

“I’m okay,” he said, as he moved his thumb on her cheek in an attempt of comfort, though his efforts were questionable, as Xion broke at that, tears leaving her eyes and a big sob finally breaking through her throat. Her grip on his hand tightened as she leaned her head against it, as if she was afraid his hand would disintegrate if she didn’t. The sight of it hurt Lea more than any injury.

“I’m sorry,” was all she could form between her sobs, eyes shut and head lowered as the tears fell on her lap.

He opened his mouth to say something, he wanted to say something more than he wanted anything at that moment, but his body had used up all of its energy. No words came out as the strength left him and his vision faded. Xion felt his hand go limp and was overcome with the worst fear she had ever felt.

“Axel!” She yelled as she let go of his hand and, as it fell on the floor, went to grip his shoulder.

But Lea heard nothing, and saw only black.


	2. Chapter 2

When Lea opened his eyes again, he felt as if he had been ran over by a train. And truly. when it came to severity, the reality wasn’t too far off from that. Part of him was confused when he actually woke up; he had felt so exhausted when he passed out that part of him thought that recovering from that was impossible. Looking back, he was frightened by his own pessimism.  
He took a deep breath and was met with a sharp reminder that his injures still existed. Though dulled, the pain was still there, and he felt bandages around him. He, then, began to scan his environment, he appeared to be in a medical facility, and judging by the light outside, he’d guess it was in Twilight Town—

“Lea?”

The unmistakable low voice of Isa interrupted his analysis of the room. Lea’s eyes met his and they stared at each other for a few seconds. Isa, sat on an armchair next to his bed, had an uncharacteristically worried look on his face.

“Hi,” was all he could think to say.

Isa let out a sharp sigh as he shot up from his seat and hurried to lean over Lea, putting his face very close to his as he observed him in silence. After a few moments, Lea broke the silence.

“Morning to you too.”

“You _idiot_ ,” Isa mumbled, and was quick to cup Lea’s face in his hand and to press his forehead against his, closing his eyes as he let his own breathing calm.

“That’s more like it,” said Lea as he closed his eyes as well, his voice softer than his words.

They were quiet for a few seconds, with Lea reluctant to break the moment as he felt Isa’s nervous touch on his face soften little by little. It was, then, Isa who leaned back again first and opened his eyes to look at his partner again, though he didn’t say anything.

“What’s up?” Lea mumbled, pressured by the silence.

“Don’t ‘ _what’s up_ ’ me, Lea,” Isa said, his frown deepening and his voice now gaining a hint of annoyance, on top of the worry that was already there, “What _happened_?”

Lea’s eyes wandered off to a random piece of furniture in the room as he thought of a response.

“How much do you know?”

“All I know is that Xion sent a distress call, and that they found her sobbing next to your unconscious body, with her arm bleeding severely. What happened?” He repeated his question, moving the slightest amount to the side as he tried to get Lea to look at him again. Lea didn’t cooperate.

“Well, stuff went downhill. We got jumped by some pissed off Heartless and they almost got the better of us. Almost,” he emphasized.

“That ‘almost’ was nearly not there for you,” Isa replied. His voice was growing more stern by the minute.

Lea could feel Isa’s intense stare hit him at the side of his face, though he refused to meet it with his own. That was, until he remembered something crucial.

“Xion, is she okay?” He turned to Isa as soon as the question left his mouth, desperate for any sort of information on the matter. Isa’s eyes widened a small amount, surprised by the sudden change, but he replied.

“She’s recovering,” he said, his voice softer again, “It seems she neglected to heal her own wound while trying to treat yours, but she will be fine. It will simply take a little bit longer to heal.”

A sigh of relief left Lea as he heard the news. Isa, on the other hand, sighed in frustration.

“I was told your injuries were dealt by a similar weapon,” he said, “did one enemy give you two this much trouble? Or were there multiple of its kind?”

“Nah, it was one, just, uh...” Lea averted his gaze again.

Isa frowned. Sick of Lea’s avoidance, he placed his hand on the others cheek again, gently pushing his head to he was facing him again. Though reluctant, Lea didn’t resist, and looked Isa in the eye again.

“Just what, Lea?”

“We got jumped and they separated us, but Xion helped me and knocked out one that was about to hit me from long range, but she got hit by the big guy because of it. I saw her on the floor and that monster over her with its sword lifted and I didn’t really think” he closed his eyes for a moment when the image came to his mind, “I ignored the ones around me and bolted to them to block the hit, but then one of the guys I left behind surprised me, then the sword one managed to get a strong hit on me, etc. You can figure out the rest, I think.”

Isa’s frown softened, but didn’t leave his face.

“Xion’s stronger than you give her credit for, she could have probably—”

“I’m not banking on the _probably_ , Isa,” it was Lea’s turn to have his voice grow stern. He frowned as he stared directly at him, “Yeah, I know, maybe she could have handled herself, but what if she couldn’t have? What if _she_ had gotten this instead?” He gestured towards where his wound was underneath the thin fabric of his blanket and clothes, “She’s smaller than me, she’s younger than me, it— I’m not taking that risk.”

Isa found himself with no argument, but he still looked unsatisfied. He looked down, and lifted his hand from Lea’s face.

“I... understand,” he said, “but it worries me you’d leave yourself open like that so easily.”

“I don’t regret it.”

“I know you don’t.”

Isa sighed and looked at him once again.

“Xion’s asleep last I checked, but she will want to speak to you once she knows you’re conscious,” he said, “I imagine she’s not very happy about your stunt either.”

“Well I’m not happy about _her_ stunt, so.”

“Lea.”

“What.”

“She thought you were dead.”

The words, though not surprising, tightened his chest.

“She couldn’t fall asleep until I personally told her you were still breathing. When I did tell her, I thought she was going to break again. You two need to talk about this.”

Lea pressed his lips together.

“And I know that’s not your forte.”

“ _Excuse_ you.”

A small smile came to Isa’s face, the first one in the conversation so far. The sight was enough to melt the small annoyance Lea felt.

“I’m right,” Isa said, “as I always am.”

“Sure, sure,” Lea smiled back, against his best efforts.

Isa leaned forward and gave him a soft kiss on the forehead, before getting up.

“I have some matters to attend to, I’m glad you’re safe. Get some rest.”

“Thanks. Love you.”

Isa looked back and smiled at him before leaving.

“I love you too.”


	3. Chapter 3

Lea wasn’t sure how much time has passed since Isa had left; he’d gone through a chat and check ups with the doctors since then, and was instructed to, basically, rest until he was told otherwise. He would usually be fine with that, if not for the knowledge Xion was in a similar situation as him. Despite Isa’s words, he _did_ want to talk to her, though he wasn’t sure what about. His partner did have a point: he was bad at facing issues like these head on; he just wanted to confirm for himself that Xion was okay.

Something then interrupted his mindless scrolling on his gummiphone. The sound of the door opening snapped Lea’s attention to it, and when he saw Roxas walk in he hoped he would be able to avoid getting his ear talked off again.

“Axel!” The boy exclaimed as he closed the door behind him in a hurry, “You’re okay?”

“Well I’m here, aren’t I?”

Roxas sprinted to his side with an urgency Lea felt was unnecessary, but he didn’t comment on it.

“I! Are you okay?”

“Roxas, you just—”

“I know, just...! What happened?” His words were rushed, but Lea was thankful he didn’t seem as upset as he could be.

“Mission was a little rough,” he replied, not feeling inclined to explain the situation again.   Roxas analyzed him for a few moments, eyes full of worry but also relief. A few seconds passed before he moved again, putting his hands on the side of the bed. Still, he was a loss for words. Lea decided to break the silence,  “Did Isa tell you I woke up?”

“Yeah, I rushed here as soon as I could...” Roxas replied, with a small nod. “I was hoping Xion would be up too, but she’s not.”

“Isa told me she was asleep a while ago, I'm glad she still is. Gotta rest and stuff,” he said.

“I agree, I just want to talk to her, I guess...”

Lea couldn’t help but smile at his concern. Roxas was easy to read, something he appreciated.

“You’ve spent longer than this waiting for Xion to wake up before. A day or so is nothing, she’ll be up in no time,” he said, voice soft. Roxas offered him a simple smile.

“You’re right. But waiting for _you_ to wake up is a first. Guess those heartless really knocked you on your butt, huh?”

“Tell me about it,” said Lea, leaning back on his pillow. He was grateful the conversation was going along smoothly. As long as he could avoid the details of what went wrong, a chat with Roxas was more than welcome, “Hadn’t gotten my ass kicked this badly in a while.”

Roxas’ eyes narrowed and the smile slowly faded from face, and suddenly Lea wasn't so sure this conversation would stay lighthearted. The boy closed his eyes in thought, and then looked at him again.

“Is everything okay? Xion was crying when she was brought here,” he said, “Not small tears either, she...” he trailed off in a sad sigh. Lea frowned at that.

Lea was aware he was easy to read, much like Roxas was. Trying to lie to the kid was always a shaky rope to walk in; he didn’t take kindly to dishonesty, as Lea had learned the hard way long ago. Still, he couldn’t bring himself to tell him what he had told Isa. He knew he’d hear the same things again, but this time from a teenager that somehow managed to have even less of a filter than Isa did.

“I mean, saying stuff is ‘okay’ is definitely a lie,” he settled with that. Roxas stared at him with those big blue eyes, hungry for more information. Lea cursed him in his mind. Those goddamn kids had way too much power over him, “We got jumped, and in the confusion, I got hit pretty badly.”

“Oh...” said Roxas, “Is that really all? You’re both tough, were those heartless that strong?”

“I mean, in the mess that it turned into after they managed to separate us... Uh,” he stopped himself, and Roxas stared, and he continued, “We got caught up in trying to have each others backs and also defend ourselves, I tried to block a blow that was for Xion but,” he gestured towards his injured side, “I kind of bungled it.”

Roxas followed his gesture with his gaze, then looked back at Lea. He was thoughtful for a second, eyebrows furrowing.

“I guess you did, huh,” Roxas sighed. “You two... you know you’re strong, couldn’t you have a little more faith in each other?”

“I wouldn’t say it’s about faith, it’s more like... uh,” he tried to word it, but couldn’t. He didn’t know exactly what it was, but he knew it was a trait him and Xion shared, for the better or worst. “It’s just, I don’t like seeing you guys get hurt, and I don’t want to risk it if I can help it,” he said, though he felt the full truth was still hiding from him.

“I mean, Xion sure didn’t like seeing you get hurt like that either, you know?” Roxas tilted his head. He was so genuine, it left Lea at a loss. He did get what he was saying, but something inside him wanted to dismiss it. This ‘something’, it was what he shared with Xion.

“Yeah, just...” He decided to be honest, “I didn’t think about it then.”

“I get it,” Roxas said.

Silence settled in for a few seconds, until Lea got sick of the atmosphere.

“Geez, Roxas, don’t let Isa infect you with his killjoy habit ,” he waved in dismissal, mostly to be dramatic, “I can only handle one person like that.”

“Well, it sounds like you need more than one to keep ya in check,” Roxas grinned. Lea smiled back, before rolling his eyes.

“Whatever you say, kiddo,” he waved him off and yawned. He glanced at the time, “isn’t it late? Do you want Isa to get on your case when you get home? I’m not gonna be there to save you.”

“If you’re gonna kick me out like that, I guess I’ll go,” He smiled, and then got up, stretching as he did so.

“Mhm. Tell Isa I said ‘I love you’ when you see him,” he teased.

“Gross, no,” he said, snickering at the end of the sentence.

“Oh, coward,” Lea giggled, “Whatever, go home and get some rest.”

Roxas smiled at him and walked off to the exit.

“Love you, Roxas!” He exclaimed, before Roxas could open the door.

“Love you!” He chirped back with no hesitation, then left.


	4. Chapter 4

It was hard falling asleep when moving the smallest amount sent your entire torso into an uproar of pain, but Lea was a dedicated sleeper and through great effort, he had managed to do so.

Thus, when he was awakened by a door opening and closing at a frankly worrisome speed, he felt more than a little bit annoyed. He groaned in frustration when he opened his eyes, though when they adjusted to the light and were able to focus on who had just barged into his room, his attitude changed in an instant.

Standing at the door, with her hand still on the door’s handle and with a look on her face that showed she had made more noise coming in than she expected, was Xion. Her left arm was immobilized and bandaged, and it was clear by her clothes that she was also a patient there.

“Xion?”

“You were asleep? Sorry, I—”

“It’s 2am, of course I was,” he said, glancing at the clock sitting on the wall, “But that doesn’t matter, what are you doing here? How did you even know I was here?”

“Isa told me when was I brought here that you were in the room next to mine, and I wanted to see you!”

“Are you supposed to walk?”

“My _arm_ got injured, not my legs.”

“That doesn’t answer my question!”

“They didn’t tell me I was allowed to walk around, no.”

“Xion!” He exclaimed with exasperation, “You’re smarter than this!”

This was the kind of move _Roxas_ would pull, what was Xion doing?

“Quiet down! I already came here, so now don’t make me get kicked out!” She said, lifting her hand from the door handle and putting it on her hip as she scolded him in whispers.

“You mean get brought back to where you’re supposed to be resting!” Lea replied. Despite his words, he did also lower his voice when speaking.

Xion didn’t grace him with a reply and instead just stared. Lea opened his mouth to say something again, but he looked at her eyes and, for a moment, was brought back to the incident that had put them here. Her expression was void of the petty annoyance that was just in her voice, and without words she pleaded to him to cooperate. He didn’t have the heart to deny her that. He sighed.

“Fine, just, please tell me if you anything feels wrong with you,” he gave in, “other than the obvious.”

She gave him a tiny nod, and walked over to his side with quiet footsteps. She met his eyes with reluctance, and awkwardly sat down on the armchair.

Her hand curled into a nervous fist on her lap, and she looked at the floor with an expression Lea couldn’t understand. Xion had always been harder to read than Roxas; she thought a lot and didn’t speak anywhere close to that. She kept quiet, going through words in her head, thinking of the best way to say something, which brought a deafening silence to the room. Lea couldn’t stand it.

“Xion, why are you here?” He asked, doing his best to sit up — or do the closest thing to it he could, in his state.

The reply took a few seconds to come out of her mouth, and yet it said nothing.

“I wanted to see you,” she repeated.

“I know,” he was a bit frustrated at how closed off she was, “but why?”

The question made something click in her, and her eyes snapped up and met his again with an intensity that made Lea want to look away, though he didn’t. She frowned in something between frustration and sadness, and took a deep breath before speaking.

“I wanted to say sorry for what happened,” she said, looking down.

Lea widened his eyes at that, remembering the last words she had said to him before he passed out. He spent a few seconds processing his feelings, and shook his head as his expression softened again. Though his body complained, he leaned forward as much as he could, trying to follow her gaze. It wasn’t much, but his movement was enough to get her attention back to him.

“Lea, don’t move,” her words were gentle, but concerned.

“You don’t have anything to apologize for.”

She frowned again.

“If I h—”

“I chose to drop the fight and help you. You only got knocked down because I didn’t pay enough attention and you had to help me,” he interrupted.

“Because you got a heartless behind me! I—”

“Yeah, and I chose to do that, Xion, it’s not your responsibility!” He was exasperated.

“But— I! I could have, I don’t know, I could have noticed that heartless so you didn’t have to,” her voice raised as sentence went along, though she didn’t seem to notice.

“That doesn’t make sense, and you know it. You’re not omniscient, I helped you because I wanted to,” he said, volume growing to match hers.

She shook her head and leaned forward in her seat.

“Well, you didn’t have to! You were wrapped up with the other guys, I could have probably handled it! If I couldn’t, so what? It would be my bad—”

“So what’? Xion...” For a moment, his tone softened again. Her statement tightened his heart, and he stared at her at a loss for words, expression communicating nothing other than hurt. She couldn’t take it and looked away, saying nothing. He pressed his lips together, then spoke, “Xion, look at me.”

She didn’t.

“Xion,” he called again, in vain. He waited a few seconds, to see if the pressure would make her give in and return his gaze, but to no avail. He then sighed and spoke anyway, “You don’t have to do this anymore. You existence isn’t a threat to anyone. You don’t have to give yourself up for the sake of anyone.”

“You’re the one who should understand that,” she snapped her eyes back to him, now with a little bit of anger, “Look at what happened to you!”

“I can _take it_ , I’m not losing you again!” He said, finally understanding the core of what he had been trying to communicate himself.

“I don’t want to be apart from you again _either_ , Axel!” She got up form her seat and leaned forward as she exclaimed that, putting her hand on the bed and gripping at the fabric. Lea wanted to say something, but he found himself with nothing _to_ say, staring at Xion with eyes slightly wide. Her shoulders shook, he could see it, and she spent a few seconds recollecting herself, calming her breathing, then spoke up again. “You’re not a Nobody anymore, if you die, you’re gone forever.”

She looked away again, staring at a random point near the end of the bed, and Lea stared at her, throat hurting. He understood what she meant, he truly did, because he felt the same towards her. As much as he liked to deny it, he had picked up a habit of self sacrifice in recent years. After losing so much, he’d come to the conclusion he rather be lost himself than hurt again. But he didn’t have to do that anymore, did he? Neither did Xion.

“Xion,” he said, gently this time, spoken volume back to the near whispers they were using at the start of the argument. She looked at him, and he could see tears were trying to come out of her eyes. That was a sight he had been seeing far too often lately, he thought. “I understand.”

She took a deep breath, but said nothing. Her gaze was still focused on his, though.

“I think we’re both coming from the same place here,” he said, “so let’s both... stop doing this whole thing of putting ourselves in danger, okay?” He watched her blink, and then look down, “I’m not going anywhere, and I know you’re not going anywhere.”

Her eyes met his again.

“We’re together now, there’s no catch. There’s no time limit,” he added. She kept quiet, but looked at him intensely, though again he couldn’t quite tell what was going on in her mind. So he simply offered her a smile, and raised his hand to his temple, “Got it memorized?”

Once again, a choked sob came from her throat, though it was much quieter this time. She didn’t try to hide her tears as they fell, and instead she kept her gaze focused on his eyes. Xion shook her head in a small nod.

“Sure. Memorized,” she repeated, a small smile appearing on her face.

His smile widened at that, and she let out a precious giggle. The hurt in his chest turned into warmth as he watched her wipe the tears from her face. She looked brighter, her shoulders were more relaxed now, it made relief wash over him. Done drying her face, or as much as she could be when a few stray tears were still leaving her eyes, Xion returned his stare and stayed quiet for a few seconds.

“Is it weird to ask if I can give you a hug?” She asked, sheepishly, “Am I going to hurt you if I do?”

Lea let out a small laugh and wordlessly opened his arms. She threw herself on him as gently as she could, and as well as she could, given her own injury. The hug was awkward, she had to lean down a lot, since Lea himself couldn’t even sit up, and to add to that, she had to be careful not to strain her own arm. Despite that, it felt right; Lea put a hand on the back over her head and gently stroke her hair, while Xion got comfortable despite all odds in his body warmth.

“Love you, kiddo,” he said, taking his hand away from her hair to fully wrap his arm around her and tighten the hug.

“I love you too,” she replied, tightening her own grip ever so slightly, careful not to hurt him.

He let go and she leaned back again, letting him get back to a more comfortable position.

“Now go get some rest before someone makes you do it,” he said, tilting his head towards the door.

She grinned and stuck out her tongue at him.

“Sure. Don’t tell anyone I was here!”

“Can’t make promises. Scoot!”

She giggled and walked towards the door with the same quiet steps she came in with.

“Night, Xion,” he added before she opened the door.

She put her hand on the door handle and looked at him before leaving.

“Good night, Lea.”

He smiled at the door even after she left. His own words repeated in his mind. He was with his family now, and there wasn't anything threatening to get them away from him anymore. There was no need to keep trying to give himself up to get back what he lost, or to keep things from falling apart again, because everything was fine now.

Everything was fine.

With his mind cleared, Lea didn't find it hard to go back to sleep.


End file.
